Sam is a 14-year-old pedigreed Chinese crested owned by Susie Lockheed of Santa Barbara, California. In June 2005, Sam won the "World's Ugliest Dog" title at the Sonoma-Marin Fair contest for the third consecutive year.

He's so ugly that even the judges recoiled when he was placed on the judging table . . .
Unfortunately, Sam is suffering from a number of age-related ailments (congestive heart failure, lung and kidney problems) and will probably make no more public appearances, so he may have to cede his "World's Ugliest Dog" crown in next year's competition.

This is one of those scientific achievements that make you want to say: "Very impressive - but what's the point? Couldn't you be getting on with inventing nuclear fusion energy, eradicating malaria or building a US Air Force pilot with recognition skills? Nice dog, by the way..